Family IT Guy Podcast

Family IT Guy
  • 5.0 (10)
  • Parenting

Ben Gillenwater helps families protect children from digital dangers, bringing 30 years of cybersecurity expertise to the parenting journey. His background includes working with the NSA and serving as Chief Technologist of a $10 billion IT company, where he built global-scale systems and understood technology's risks at every level. His mission began when he gave his young son an iPad with "kid-safe" apps—only to discover inappropriate content days later. Despite his deep technical background, Ben realized that if protecting children online was challenging for him, it must be even more difficult for parents without his expertise. Through Family IT Guy, Ben creates videos and articles that help parents and kids learn how to leverage the positive parts of the internet while avoiding the dangerous and risky parts. His approach bridges the knowledge gap between complex technology and practical family protection, making digital safety accessible to everyone.

  1. Oct 17 ·  Video

    What I’m Building at Family IT Guy, October 2026

    I'm sharing the Family IT Guy plans as of October 2026: guidance for choosing apps and devices, device setup classes, and education for parents and kids. I also talk about Boring, my phone-accountability prototype; private AI projects; school curriculum; and literacy education. I explain why privacy matters in the software I'm building, how I measure progress, and what I want to hear from you about your family's questions and problems. What questions would you like answered, what problems would you like solved, and what teaching materials would help your family? Tell me in the comments. Read the full update: https://www.familyitguy.com/october-2026-update.html Answer privately: https://www.familyitguy.com/feedback.html 0:00 Mission: teaching adults first 2:09 Choose: apps, games and other decisions 4:23 Set up: device classes and software projects 8:37 Teach: AI education and curriculum 13:35 Why privacy matters in the software 15:00 How I measure progress 17:23 Your questions and feedback Family IT Guy helps parents protect their kids from the two biggest digital dangers: addictive algorithms and anonymous communication, and the ways AI is making both worse. Ben Gillenwater spent 30 years in cybersecurity, and he teaches this as a parent in the same trenches you are. Website: https://www.familyitguy.com Listen to the Family IT Guy Podcast: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/family-it-guy-podcast/id1831912044 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/72yZUVsOqdDk7en5FS9U8g #parenting #onlinesafety #digitalparenting #familyitguy

  2. Oct 16 ·  Video

    Accidental Kids Games: Why Many Games Kids Play Weren’t Built for Them

    This is a conversation about how to tell whether a video game is safe for your kid, with a game developer who has spent 25 years making games, including Club Penguin. My guest is Stephen MacDonald, CEO of Magic Potion Games, the studio making Imagine Island, an online game built for kids under 13. His work includes Club Penguin at Disney, plus time at Ubisoft and Electronic Arts, and he's the dad of two boys who both play a lot of games. We start with why so many games kids play were never made for them. Stephen calls these accidental kids games: games whose players turned out to be much younger than the developers expected. He explains how a kids game can make money without dark patterns, which he describes as design that tries to trick people into spending money, and why his game sends kids to get a parent before they can pay for anything or chat freely. I also share what happened when I signed up for Roblox as an eight-year-old, to see what my son would see. Almost right away it tried to sell me $199 in Robux. Robux is Roblox's in-game currency, bought with real money. Then we get into chat. Imagine Island has no private messages, and Stephen explains why: "If you can't say it out loud in a group, you shouldn't be saying it." Kids find ways around chat rules, and one he has seen is a shared Google Doc on a school Chromebook. He gives parents a test for when a child is ready for games with open chat, such as voice chat: can you have a real conversation with them about grooming and sexual exploitation? If you aren't ready to have it, or they aren't ready to hear it, he says they aren't ready for those games. Grooming is when an adult builds a child's trust in order to exploit them. Stephen's advice is to check a game yourself before your kid plays it. Start with what the game's website says about moderation, parent tools and age verification. Moderation is how a game filters and reviews what players say to each other. You can also ask an AI tool for a list of pros and cons. Then spend at least an hour playing it the way your kid would. When I asked for his one piece of advice for parents, he said to play with your kid. My guide to what chat in games and apps means for your kid: https://www.familyitguy.com/online-chat-dangers.html Chapters: 0:00 Highlights from the conversation 0:52 Who Stephen MacDonald is, from Club Penguin to Magic Potion Games 8:51 The questions parents ask about games, and Roblox 11:37 How Roblox grew 17:02 Accidental kids games 20:17 Why he builds games for kids parent-first 24:39 Making money from a kids game without tricking kids 30:04 How Imagine Island keeps chat off until a parent verifies 33:20 What the law asks of games for kids under 13 37:43 Signing up as an 8-year-old: a $199 Robux offer 43:48 Try the game yourself before your kid plays it 45:35 When is a child ready for chat? 46:32 Two red flags: chat, and games built to hold attention 49:38 Attention is trained, and kids copy what you do 57:17 Paying his kids to think: $50 to beat Chrono Trigger and explain it 1:00:34 Chat in Imagine Island: a fenced playground with no private messages 1:08:42 Kids find a way around rules: a Google Doc on a school Chromebook 1:11:10 When your kid asks to chat: starting the real conversation 1:13:31 How to check a game's safety yourself 1:18:34 How games pull kids back, and checking a company's values 1:24:41 Can moderation keep up as a game grows? 1:31:17 Can an adult pretend to be a kid? 1:35:10 Watch how your child reacts to a game 1:41:34 His advice to parents: play with your kid 1:43:46 His advice to game developers 1:49:28 Where to find Stephen and Imagine Island Where to find Stephen: Imagine Island: https://imagineisland.game/ Magic Potion Games: https://magicpotiongames.com/ Family IT Guy helps parents protect their kids from the two biggest digital dangers: addictive algorithms and anonymous communication, and the ways AI is making both worse. Ben Gillenwater spent 30 years in cybersecurity, and he teaches this as a parent in the same trenches you are. Website: https://www.familyitguy.com Listen to the Family IT Guy Podcast: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/family-it-guy-podcast/id1831912044 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/72yZUVsOqdDk7en5FS9U8g Guest: Stephen MacDonald, CEO, Magic Potion Games #parenting #onlinesafety #videogames #kidsonline #digitalparenting #familyitguy

  3. Oct 16 ·  Video

    Adult Ads in Kids’ Mobile Games: What a Lawsuit Alleges and What to Check

    A game's age rating doesn't tell you which ads it will show. San Diego County alleges that AppLovin, which supplies the technology that puts ads inside mobile apps and games, sent adult ads into children's mobile games even with parental controls turned on. The county's lawyers say their tests in July and August 2026 found cannabis gummy ads in Hexasort, a game rated E for Everyone, on an Android device set up for a six-year-old with Google Family Link parental controls enabled. The county also alleges that AppLovin collected sensitive information from children's devices despite safeguards and choices to opt out. In a statement addressing critical investor reports, AppLovin CEO Adam Foroughi says the company does not track children's data, and that its policies prohibit partners from supplying children's data or using its advertising software with that data. In the video I wonder whether Hexasort set up its ads correctly. The County's complaint says AppLovin's own systems, not any advertiser's instructions, steer these ads to young children (paragraph 42), and that in September 2024 AppLovin removed the setting app developers used to tell its software a player is a child (paragraphs 43 and 44). Just because an app or a game is rated E for Everyone, or whatever the age rating is, doesn't mean it's okay. Any time you expose children to marketing systems, there's a lot of risk. By definition, marketing is about manipulation, though not always in an evil way, and in digital marketing that manipulation is personalized: it's based on studying each person and following how they behave, what games they play and what they do in those games. If a game makes money from ads, you never know which ads are going to run, but you do know the ads are trying to manipulate your kid, because that's what ads do. When we talk about kids being safe on the internet, I don't think the internet itself is the problem, and it's not necessarily screen time. It really boils down to marketing exposure. So when you're deciding whether your kid should use an app or a game, I think a really good filter is to ask whether it has any marketing in it. A lot of things do, but it's a good red flag to pay attention to. Sources: County of San Diego news release, October 5, 2026: https://www.countynewscenter.com/county-introduces-new-consumer-fairness-and-public-protection-division-launches-three-major-lawsuits/ The County's complaint, People v. AppLovin Corporation, San Diego Superior Court (the Hexasort tests are in paragraph 35) AppLovin CEO Adam Foroughi, "Note from our CEO": https://www.applovin.com/en/archived-blog/note-from-our-ceo Full livestream, where I answer more viewer questions and cover news about kids and technology: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJ1sQRQOtn4 Family IT Guy helps parents protect their kids from the two biggest digital dangers: addictive algorithms and anonymous communication, and the ways AI is making both worse. Ben Gillenwater spent 30 years in cybersecurity, and he teaches this as a parent in the same trenches you are. Website: https://www.familyitguy.com Listen to the Family IT Guy Podcast: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/family-it-guy-podcast/id1831912044 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/72yZUVsOqdDk7en5FS9U8g #parenting #onlinesafety #mobilegames #digitalparenting #kidsonline #familyitguy

  4. Oct 10 ·  Video

    Is Perplexity Safe for Kids? Common Sense Media Rates It Unacceptable Risk

    Is Perplexity safe for kids? Common Sense Media tested the AI search tool with accounts set up as a 15-year-old and gave it its lowest rating, unacceptable risk. My opinion and my suggestion is that kids should never use AI alone. The testers set the age to 15 in Perplexity's phone app, and Perplexity still treated them like adults. It discussed pornography, engaged in romantic role play, and offered no parental or school controls. It also trains on user data and keeps search history by default. In the crisis tests, its default chat gave an actual crisis line in only half of the suicide and self-harm cases, and the only eating disorder hotline it offered has been disconnected since 2023. Academic mode, which Perplexity markets to students, gave complete answers to homework in 83% of the tests. I use Perplexity all the time, and for adults I think it's an amazing tool. For young people, using an AI chatbot is a high-risk activity. If kids use AI at all, and I recommend they don't, I think it should be 100% supervised: you can actually see the screen, and if you get up, their hands come off the keyboard. These are early adopter systems. Dario Amodei, the CEO of Anthropic, which makes Claude, wrote on his blog that "we do not understand how our own AI creations work." I don't think kids should be beta testers, especially of technology that enters their minds. Sources: Common Sense Media's Perplexity risk assessment: https://institute.commonsensemedia.org/risk-assessments/perplexity Dario Amodei, "The Urgency of Interpretability": https://www.darioamodei.com/post/the-urgency-of-interpretability Full livestream, where I answer more viewer questions and cover news about kids and technology: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXv57vLtLpg Family IT Guy helps parents protect their kids from the two biggest digital dangers: addictive algorithms and anonymous communication, and the ways AI is making both worse. Ben Gillenwater spent 30 years in cybersecurity, and he teaches this as a parent in the same trenches you are. Website: https://www.familyitguy.com Listen to the Family IT Guy Podcast: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/family-it-guy-podcast/id1831912044 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/72yZUVsOqdDk7en5FS9U8g #parenting #ai #perplexity #digitalparenting #onlinesafety #familyitguy

  5. Oct 8 ·  Video

    A Screen for the School Bus? A Book or an Old Nintendo DS Instead

    I think boredom is good for kids, and a school bus ride is a good place to practice it. A parent in my livestream chat has two boys, six and seven, with no phones or tablets of their own, and the youngest wants a screen he can play with on the bus. My first answer is that the internet is for adults, not children, for technical reasons and for legal and regulatory ones. Once you buy a device with an internet connection, you end up blocking one thing after another, because many of the things it can do are designed to capture attention. Even an hour a day adds up to hundreds of hours a year. A Wi-Fi tablet with no cellular connection still needs its videos from somewhere, and most video services aren't compatible with kids, even their kids' products. YouTube Kids, for example, is not safe for kids. Compared with watching content, even content you've filtered, I think staring out the bus window is better for a child's mental and emotional health. If he wants something to do, he could bring a book or a Kindle. My son is 11 and has a kids' Kindle with a filtered library, which you still need to check on, and he's been reading a lot of books because of it. The parent followed up that a handheld game console would be okay, and that being bored is okay too. If he'd rather play a game, an old console like a Nintendo DS works well. We found one for our son on Facebook Marketplace. The batteries last a long time, and it's sturdy enough for a kid. Full livestream, where I answer more viewer questions and cover news about kids and technology: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXv57vLtLpg Family IT Guy helps parents protect their kids from the two biggest digital dangers: addictive algorithms and anonymous communication, and the ways AI is making both worse. Ben Gillenwater spent 30 years in cybersecurity, and he teaches this as a parent in the same trenches you are. Website: https://www.familyitguy.com Listen to the Family IT Guy Podcast: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/family-it-guy-podcast/id1831912044 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/72yZUVsOqdDk7en5FS9U8g #parenting #screentime #boredom #digitalparenting #kidsandtechnology #familyitguy

  6. Sep 25 ·  Video

    My 11-Year-Old Asked to Text His Friend. I Said No.

    My son uses his Apple Watch for emergencies, with a short list of family contacts. When he asked to add a friend, my wife and I said no. Here’s why texting friends would change what we use the watch for. https://www.familyitguy.com

  7. Sep 24 ·  Video

    Teach Kids About Tech and Set Limits: Why I Recommend Both

    Someone in the live chat asked why we don't just teach children to use devices well instead of banning them. It's a fair question and I think the premise is sound. My answer is that it depends on the device. A phone is not usually the thing you are protecting a child from. It's a door to other things, and those things are what need restricting. Some of them I don't think have a safe version at any age: pornography, social media, anonymous chat, anything running an addictive algorithm. So it isn't teach or restrict. It's both. Restrict the things that don't have a good version, and for everything you do hand them, teach them how to use it. Education is a dependency for anything that matters, whether it's a hammer or an app. Full livestream: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmj519CTr9o

  8. Sep 22 ·  Video

    When Your Child Says Everyone Else Has It

    A mum wrote in during the livestream. She has two boys, nine and five, she wants to protect them from what is online, and she does not want to do it by frightening them. How do you balance that? I use an analogy at those ages. Most of us would not drop a child off in a dangerous part of town and leave them there. The internet is that same part of town, reached through a screen instead of on foot. There are people there who like to hurt others, and there are companies making money the same way. Then there is the part every parent hears: my friends have this. In our house the answer is that we do not do things because other people do them, and we do not do things because of social pressure. We do things based on our principles and on keeping each other healthy. Being normal is not what we are aiming for. Full livestream: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmj519CTr9o

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Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
10 Ratings

About

Ben Gillenwater helps families protect children from digital dangers, bringing 30 years of cybersecurity expertise to the parenting journey. His background includes working with the NSA and serving as Chief Technologist of a $10 billion IT company, where he built global-scale systems and understood technology's risks at every level. His mission began when he gave his young son an iPad with "kid-safe" apps—only to discover inappropriate content days later. Despite his deep technical background, Ben realized that if protecting children online was challenging for him, it must be even more difficult for parents without his expertise. Through Family IT Guy, Ben creates videos and articles that help parents and kids learn how to leverage the positive parts of the internet while avoiding the dangerous and risky parts. His approach bridges the knowledge gap between complex technology and practical family protection, making digital safety accessible to everyone.

Information

  • Creator
    Family IT Guy
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    83
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Copyright 2025 All rights reserved.
  • Show Website
    Family IT Guy Podcast

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